Molotov Heart {Alex Summers | X-Men}

2. onism.

i n n o c e n c e

remember, all we did was c a r e for each other

If the first day was Heaven, the second was Hell; Charles takes a photo of all of them together, though he's still not happy about what had happened the night before, he can't help but beam at the photo murmuring 'marvellous' under his breath. Aoibheal lets Raven braid her hair and doesn't complain when her nails scrape a little too sharply against Aoibheal's scalp when men in suits tap on the glass and say rude things to the others. They call to her brother to 'do the voice' and she realises that they don't even understand. It doesn't stop her being furious on her brother's behalf, standing as Hank does to close the curtain to give the mutants their privacy.

"They've got a kid!" One yelps in delight when he sees her, and she knows from the way her skin crawls that his look of sickening amusement will be burned into her memory forever, "Some freak preschooler!" She hears their scorn, but pretends like she doesn't, even when though she can see her brother's hands balling into fists, can see the revulsion on Angel's face. She doesn't want this, doesn't want to see her friends, her brother mocked like by glorified bullies, but she's too young, too small to do anything about it.

Darwin ruffles her hair when she joins him at the pinball machine, Alex groaning and making half-hearted accusations of sabotage, which Darwin rolls his eyes at, but they're both smiling, and Alex seems far more relaxed than yesterday. Aoibheal watches in silence, nose pressed to the side of the machine, eyes following the little metal ball with interest. Sean had never been particularly good at pinball, the few times she had seen him play, but both Aoibheal and Darwin would agree that Alex was a master.

Aoibheal lurches away from the machine when there's a tremor that runs through building, and the sound of something heavy falling from a high altitude. Aoibheal is by Sean's side, looking through the open windows as the fear begins to slither down her spine. When people start falling from the sky, Aoibheal can hear Raven scream, and Sean pulls his little sister in to him, keeping her in a tight grip so she couldn't bear witness to the devastation. Glass is smashing, people are yelling and Aoibheal's sobbing, trying to get loose.

Darwin's the one who gets them all to run, he picks up Aoibheal without hesitation and carries her through the halls, yelling at the human guards. There's an explosion and everyone skitters back, Aboibheal flinching and burying her face in Darwin's shoulder. They all scurry back to the common area and Darwin drops down, standing Aoibheal up and catching her shoulders.

"Hide." He tells her, looking her in the eyes with not even the hint of a smile on his face, and she's so scared. "Now." He says, and pushes her gently in the direction of the kitchenette with it's big, empty cupboards. Aoibheal does as she's told, breathing shallow and panicked as she struggled to keep her sobs silent. There's the crashing of glass and she can hear Raven crying too, but everything goes silent as she hears the door to the room opening.

It's a man's voice, that much she knows, but Aoibheal has her hands pressed to her ears in fear and she can't make out what he's saying. Everything, even the air feels awful and wrong, and she doesn't know how long she's been curled in on herself, she only knows that she's still crying when she can hear Darwin shout. His voice is followed by Alex's and the telltale sound of Alex's plasma blasts, and all she can think is that her friends are being hurt and she's too goddamn small to stop it.

It's Hank who pulls her wordlessly from her hiding place, his face reading nothing but shock, eyes wide and sad. There are tear tracks Aoibheal's cheeks and he does his best to wipe them away, unable to respond to her questions, even as she pleads. No-one else is speaking. Sean perches his chin on her shoulder when she hugs him and she can feel him shaking; they're both shaking. Raven is crumpled on the sofa, arms wrapped so tightly around herself that part of her skin has gone blue, but Alex is the worst. He stands in the centre of the room, gaze fixed on some point in distance, a hollow look in his eyes.